A little bit ago their was a thread on the most disapointing kit you've gotten. How about the flip side, what kit has been the most pleasntly surprising? A kit you didn't expect much from but turned out pretty nice?

Mine is the Tamiya M13/40 Italian tank. I picked it up for $6 on a bargin bin and didn't expect much. It's far from perfect but it's a nice little kit I was able to put together in an afternoon and has turned out far better than I expected. Even the rubber band tracks look pretty good after weathering.

The new 1/72 Revell kits. I am blown away by the detail, craftsmanship, etc.

As good as the best modern Tamiya kits. No kidding at all.

Steve

I am working on the new tooling version of the Mobelwagon from Tamiya and it has been an absolute joy. No flash, minimal ejector pin marks, good fit. Fine kit. I expected the old hull with the motorization holes, etc.

Shaun

Some of Italeri's later stuff has been a surprise as far as quality of molds and details go.

Esci M60 series tanks. They came out in the late 80s, about the same time as the "new" Tamiya M60A3TTS. After seeing the poor quality of Esci's M1 and M1A1, I decided to pass on the Esci M60s (M60 Blazer, M60A3 and M60A1) and bought the Tamiya kit instead.

A few years later, I ran across the M60 Blazer in an Odd Lots clearance store. Since they were only $4.99 a piece, I bought one to use with the Verlinden M60 Blazer set I had. Although the Esci IDF parts were subpar, the base M60 kit was superior to the Tamiya kit. I've since collected up the Esci M60A3TTS, M60A1 and several of the M60 Blazers to redo my M60 series collection.

Also, I'd second Sniper's recommendation of the new Revell 1/72 scale kits. I bought the Marder 1A3 from the clearance bin at $4.95 or so. I was so impressed with the kit that I've started building 1/72 scale kits once again.

Hi. Good question here halfyank, as the bad kits that tend to leave us with a more lasting impression than the good do. Have been really satisfied with Tamiya's new OIF Bradley, as I'm not really a fan of the modern stuff. But since I was able to pick it up for $28, thought it would be worth giving a try, just for something different. Am most impressed with the quality of workmanship, or I should say mold-manship of the plastic parts on this kit, which we've all come to expect from this company. One very fine vehicle. In fact I was so impressed with it that I put a couple of Abrams tanks on my Xmas list to add to this Bradley, so it wouldn't feel so lonely surrounded by all this German stuff here. Ha, ha!

Another thing that makes a kit good is the fact that you learn how to do new things on it that you may not have done if you didn't decide to buy and build a certain kit. On the Bradley I'm not only learning how to make different things for it from the various posters here, but also quite a bit about this vehicle from taking a second look at the books now coming out on OIF operations in Iraq this past year, esp. where it concerns the vehicle types, on both sides, that were, and still are, involved. And this expands my historical knowledge into other fields besides W.W. II, the Am. civil war, and Nat. Am. religion, history, and life ways.

One other kit that I have been more than impressed with was (and still am, since it's by far not completed yet), is Trumpeter's K5 German R.R. gun. But I think that everybvody who had gotten one of these things would basically feel the same way. And, as with the Bradley, it has also expanded my interest and knowledge on this particular family of weapons and their use during the W.W. II era.

Take care, sgirty

I won an Eastern Express KV-8S kit at a model contest raffle. If I hadn't won it, I probably would never have given it a second look. Kinda cheesy box art -- "Trade bait" was my first thought ...

When I got it home, I decided to compare it to the old Tamiya KV-1 and KV-2 kits. I was pleasantly surprised. While it does have quite a bit of flash and needs replacement tracks and gun barrel, it is not a bad kit. Very complete and matches my references better than the Tamiya offerings. I bought some Fruil tracks for it and it looks sweet. I'm building it as a KV-85 with an old MB conversion I had laying around (forgot about it and found it in the KV-1 box with a Rubio barrel). That made a pleasant surprise even more pleasant! Like finding money in your coat pocket

SURPRISE,
Thats an easy one. After seeing all of the so called Longbow Apache's from Revell,
Testors, Academy,Minicraft,Italeri. I deffinately purchased Hasegawas version site unseen.
I was elated when it arrived from UPS ,and even more joy overwhelmed me when I opened the box. I have seen this ship in person, taken many photos, and WISHED, PRAYED to the model GODS, for some day having a kit that was accurate. HANDS DOWN
the best HELO kit I have ever purchased of any I have. TODD
(:-)

Aircraft = Monogram PBY Catalina
Armor = Tamiya M5 Stuart

The most surprising modern kit for me has to have been the Tamiya Wespe.Nothing wrong with this kit i know, but for some reason it really surprised me with the way it fit,the lack of flash, the qualitiy of parts.....if it wasn't an open toped AFV, it would be a superb kit to learn on i would think.


As for the older kits. When i was modelling as a kid, i bought the "Prinz Eugen" from Airfix when it was released. This was a state of teh art ship kit for the time and really impressed me...little did i knwo then just how far accuracy would move on in the modelling world.

Regards from teh Swamp
Hawkeye

For me it is the new Tamiya Kubelwgen Type 82. I love this kit and with just a few PE parts it looks great.

As I was reading everyone's answer, I couldn't believe no one mentioned Tamiya's Kublewagen. Then I saw Marty's reply. Seriously, if you haven't built one of these gems, go get one today. A simply beautiful kit which practically builds itself.

Patrick

Academy M10 variants. Apart from some annoying moments with the ammo racks (and the turret) I can honestly say it was a pleasure to build, bring on the others!!!!! Jim :-)

I was blown away by Trumpeters 350 Scale Essex. Another one I had a ball building was the old Tamiya M-41. Had to do some filling with sheet styrene, but essentially straight OOB. Kit looks real fine, nothing spectacular (as holds with real thing). Cost me $9. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Trumpeter large Nimitz. HAve to agree with Rob on the ESCI M-60's...got a couple of those myself.

I would have to say the turned aluminum barrel in Revell's Panzerhaubitz 2000.